TENNIS: Defending champion Novak Djokovic is out of the Australian Open after retiring from his quarter-final with Andy Roddick. The Serb appeared exhausted in the Melbourne heat, which reached 33 degrees Celsius, and was struggling long before he called it a day in the fourth set.
Roddick was leading by two sets to one - 6-7 (3/7) 6-4 6-2 - and had just broken to go 2-1 up in the fourth when Djokovic offered his hand.
It had all begun so differently for Djokovic, whose previous match against Marcos Baghdatis did not finish until 2.30am on Monday.
After a serve-dominated first set, he moved ahead by winning the ensuing tie-break.
However, Roddick broke serve for the first time in the seventh game of the second set and duly served out to level the match.
With the heat intense and the roof open on the Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic looked tired as the third set began and at 1-2 he called for the doctor.
When play resumed it was no surprise to see Roddick secure back-to-back breaks as he strolled through the rest of the set, Djokovic unable to compete fully in any long rallies.
It was one-way traffic in the former world number one's favour and once he got a break ahead in the fourth set, Djokovic said enough was enough.
Roddick will now face either Roger Federer or Juan Martin Del Potro in the last four.
In the women's singles, Marion Bartoli described Vera Zvonareva as "almost like a ball machine" after she was blasted off the court in their quarter-final.
Zvonareva has flown under the radar so far in Melbourne despite not yet dropping a set on her way to the last four.
It is the first time the seventh seeded Russian has made the semi-finals at a Grand Slam tournament and she did so in resounding fashion, thumping French 16th seed Bartoli 6-3 6-0.
Zvonareva had trailed 3-1 in the first set but then won the next 11 games on the trot to wrap up victory in 69 minutes at Rod Laver Arena.
"If she keeps playing like this, she can definitely win this tournament," said Bartoli, who had dumped top seed Jelena Jankovic out of the tournament in the previous round.
"She's really consistent out of the baseline. She's almost like a ball machine. She just put it back at you all the time, you know, with interest.
"She played just unbelievably well. She barely missed one ball after (going down 3-1).
"I was hitting as hard as I could. She was always coming back with some better shots.
"It seems like she's reading my game like in the book. It was just too good. She was just better than me."
With temperatures nudging 30 degrees, Bartoli said conditions were tough and questioned why their match was played in the early afternoon while another quarter-final match between Dinara Safina and Jelena Dokic was a night game.
"I have to say it was definitely some tough conditions," she added. "I don't think it's really fair to have one quarter-final played at 1pm, right in the middle of the heat, and one playing at 7.30pm. But I guess that's the way it is."
Zvonareva had no problems with the scheduling and was just pleased to make it through to the next round.
"I'm just trying to concentrate on every match and trying my best in every match. I think I've been doing pretty good so far."